Epiphanies Are Us

It was a slow night for finding fun in River City and, believe me, I looked.

Even tomorrow night has more going on than tonight did. But I managed, through perseverance and dumb luck, to find enough to keep me occupied.

VCU's Fishbowl Gallery was presenting "Interaction 37," an exhibit of painting (of which there was only one) and printmaking work by sixteen graduating seniors.

The work was striking for its modernity.

There were lithographs, laser-cut prints, Epson prints, screen prints and, yes, even digital prints.

And, while I hate to admit it, my personal "best in show" would have gone to a digital print.

Patrick Quinn's "Negro Art" was created by stacking transparencies, photocopies, scraps and other studio debris and then scanning the pile to create the final flat composition.

The assorted debris comprised a visually satisfying graphic arrangement with the words "Negro Art" written horizontally near the bottom and the words "The Art of Africa" written vertically on the opposite side.

I spent as much time admiring this one piece as I did looking at all the others combined.

I only wish I could have justified spending the money so I could look at it every day.

Stopping briefly at home, I got a message from musician and man-about-town Prabir asking what was going on tonight.

Wine and then not much, I told him regretfully.

What was he up to?

His only plans were to go running and break up with a girl, so he suggested meeting later to assess our evenings.

Why not?

Every Tuesday The Empress does a four-course wine tasting with small plate pairings and tonight's theme was Thanksgiving pairings.

The crowd was smaller than the last one of these I'd attended, no doubt due to traveling and the holiday, but no less enjoyable.

We began with parsnip mashed potatoes with black pepper butter and Dry Creek Chenin Blanc. T

he rich butter was a lovely complement to the wine.

Course #2 was perfectly braised kale with cranberry chutney and the most divine Cantina Zaccagnini, a Montepulciano d'Aruzzo.

Its dry, aromatic qualities made it very food-friendly.

Herb grilled turkey with maple-roasted carrots came with hot sake-spiked apple cider.

The turkey had an unexpectedly spicy crust and although I'm not much of a cider person, the combination worked well.

We finished with a baked Alaska (homemade carrot cake topped by brandy-poached apples and ice cream all in a meringue coating which was then torched).

With it, we had the Empress Hot Tottie, made with Kluge Cru, a fortified (20%!) apperitif wine, sake and lemon juice.

All of a sudden, I'm drinking sake. And mixed drinks.

What's happening here?

These Tuesday tastings, with their mere $15 price tag, are great fun and always well-thought out food and wine-wise.

Next time I'll bring a friend, although the eavesdropping was quite good tonight (what happens at the Empress stays at the Empress) so I never lacked for entertainment.

I'd told a friend I would meet her at Ipanema to try out some of their new cocktails, but I was late and she was gone by the time I arrived.

But only recently gone.

As the bartender put it so succinctly, "Her drink spot is still wet."

Now that's a recent departure.

But I'd missed my second chance at a mixed drink; probably just as well.

Prabir and I had agreed on the Nile for meeting because of its walkability to J-Ward, but I would also add, because of its excellent music and chill vibe.

We shared the highlights of our day, leading to some interesting realizations and causing Prabir to dub this the "Karen/Prabir Epiphany Night.com"

He decreed that it was not just enough to have the epiphanies, but that acting on them was also a requirement.

Sounds like a lot of work to me.

It wasn't long before the rest of the crowd cleared out and the charming bartender joined our discussion of the sexes.

After a bit, a heart-bruised artist who's doing a mural for the Nile made it four and our discussion group was complete.

On the table were such topics as why men choose women on a purely visual basis, the relevance (or lack thereof) of marriage and the advantages of dating girls over the age of 28.

Oh, yes, and the wisdom of not dating members of the opposite sex first encountered in bars.

Someone should have been taking notes.

It's probably worth noting that not one of the four of us is in an actual relationship, so in all likelihood, we knew not of what we spoke, despite several hours of speaking anyway.

Eventually Prabir remembered his early morning meeting and we said our farewells to the other men-folk.

Turns out I was mistaken; there was more than enough to do tonight.

I just had to move around to find it all.